In the spring of 2010, my friend Kristen invited me to attend an event called "Let Them Eat Cake." The event is sponsored by the Midwife Center of Pittsburgh and is their annual fundraising gala. Local bakers, professionals and amateurs alike, participate by baking or decorating cakes. Scores are determined by a panel of professional judges and by the people who attend the event. There is a theme every year and sticking with the theme is part of the judging criteria. In case there was ever any doubt, I am competitive and love a challenge. The night of the gala, Kristen looked at me and said "You could so do this and win next year." To many, that would just be a friend supporting your hobbies, but to me it was her saying "Elizabeth, you need to do this. I know you will do well."
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| Here's us at the 2010 event! |
Let Them Eat Cake is Pittsburgh's premiere cake decorating and tasting contest. Over the past six years, the contest has grown to be The Midwife Center's signature fundraising event, supporting The Midwife Center's high quality and unique services in our region's only licensed and free standing birth center.
As you would have it, I kept my eyes and ears open this year so I could participate. In February, as soon as the Midwife Center announced the theme, I printed the form and submitted my themed cake for the baking competition. See, I think I am a much better baker than decorator. Not to mention, the amateur cakes from last year were amazing and I knew I stood no chance! Well, the theme this year was "6 degrees of Separation," as it was the 6th Annual LTEC Event. The first thing I thought of when I hard "6 Degrees of Separation" was that silly game "Six Degrees of Separation with Kevin Bacon"…and the wheels began turning. There were chocolate covered bacon candy bars, donuts with maple frosting and bacon on top and even pancakes with bacon in them, why couldn't I make a chocolate cake with maple butter cream frosting and have bacon with it?
I set out to find the perfect chocolate cake recipe. I guess, I didn't find the perfect recipe because I changed things, as usual. See, I don't like my baking to taste fake or like any other product you can get anywhere else. My next quest was to determine how I was going to incorporate the bacon into the recipe. I literally could not figure it out. Would I just crumble it and put it on top? What if I mixed it with frosting and used it in the middle? What if I just made crispy bacon and used it as a border? All these things were going through my head.
The day of the competition, I was busy and starting to get nervous. Time was everything. I had to get my cake baked, frosted, decorated, and drop it off on time. Could I do it? Oh, wait…I had to determine how I was going to incorporate that stinking bacon component! Aaaah! As I worked on the frosting, I figured it out! I decided to mix the frosting, the cake and the bacon and fill the cake with the mixture. It was divine. The bacon was crispy, the frosting was just mapley enough, and the cake was moist and light!
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| Chocolate Cake with Maple Frosting and Bacon! |
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| My cakes at the contest!!! |
Thanks Kristen for being my date and for "challenging" me to participate! It was a great time!
